Kickin' off the Carpin'

[dc410]

I fished a section of the Tulpehocken Creek this afternoon that I had never fished before. It is somewhat removed from any of the main access areas and I didn't see another fisherman the whole time. Unfortunately I didn't see any trout either. I was just about to give it up and humbly accept the skunk when I spotted what appeared to be a pod of about a dozen carp. I immediately went into carp stealth mode. I really wasn't very prepared for this as my WW/carp pack and outfit were about a half mile away in my truck. The 5 wt outfit and the trout pack would have to do (I probably would have went for it even if I would have had a 3 wt) :-D . I rooted around in my streamer box and found a size 8 black bunny tail wooly bugger that would have to do. I had 5X tippet on and I just went with it. I could have switched out to 4X tippet but didn't even give it a thought. I knew that this would be a one shot deal with the group of carp so tightly packed together. After a slow cautious approach I dropped in just upstream of the group of carp. I laid out a cast up and across above the fish and let the current swing it down right in front of them. Several of them gave it a look but one average size fish swam right up and sucked it in. Well needless to say a 23-24" carp on a 5 wt with 5X tippet was just a whole lot of fun. This wasn't really the way that I had anticipated kicking off my 2015 carp flyfishing season but I was very satisfied with the results.

 

[pro4mance]

nice

 

[BrookieChaser]

Nice job, dc!

I said it last year, I'll say it next year, carp are a priority this year.

 

[wgmiller]

It seems as though the carp in the Tully are more receptive to anglers than those in many other streams (translation - less skittish). Nice work! I'd have done the same as you. The worst that could happen is he'd snap you off. The best that could happen was what you pictured. Carp are a fun target on the fly rod!

 

[jeremymcon]

Nice! The Tulpehocken is a great carp stream. When I used to fish there I would *always* see carp! Never thought to fly fish for them until I had moved away, but if I had some time in the area again I absolutely would.

 

[dc410]

wgmiller wrote:
It seems as though the carp in the Tully are more receptive to anglers than those in many other streams (translation - less skittish).

I totally agree with you Geo. The carp are definitely less spooky in the Tully. They are used to all of the walkers, joggers, bikers and other folks that put constant pounding on the banks of the Tully with the very high use public trail system that exists along much of the special regs section. However, once you manage to stick one of those carp out of a group it is pretty much "game over" for the rest of them at least for the near future. Thanks for the positive comments. They are absolutely a lot of fun on the fly rod.

 

[codym21]

Nice fish DC, Its starting to heat up i was out the other day and got 4

 

[The_Sasquatch]

I find that in general, carp on "trout streams" are less skittish, and easier to catch.

 

[Fishidiot]

The low and clear conditions we're experiencing now on local streams here in SC ought to make for some decent sight fishing I would think. I wonder if carp go on the feed pre-spawn the way bass do?

I see carp in many of the same spots throughout the year, they don't seem to migrate much (at least not all of them).

 

[GenCon]

Way to go John. Nice fish!

GenCon

 

[hookedonthefly]

nice fish!!!